Destination JOY was a wonderful, very unique event held today in San Diego. San Diego Trolley riders could enjoy diverse entertainment and activations while on the trolley or at select stations!
The event included music, art, poetry readings and more at the Iris Avenue Transit Center. Inside a dark trailer, a makeshift art gallery presented The Goldie Collection by local artist David Gomez (@the_art_of_controversy).
Check out some photographs of his shining mixed media artwork. As a sign explained: The paintings in this collection tell a story of innocence lost, betrayal, hope and a friendship that spans generations… While the story and images might appear a bit exotic, the themes are universally human. Cool art, right?
David was also painting outdoors for the Destination JOY trolley event. I’ll be blogging about this fun San Diego event in my next post!
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I met Elie Kennedy today. She was at a table painting small, smooth stones inside the UC San Diego Park & Market building. She was participating in today’s Destination JOY event, which would bring San Diego Trolley riders into her smiling presence.
Elie makes lives in San Diego better. She does this by spreading hope and love with positive, affirming messages painted beautifully on stones. Perhaps you’ve seen Elie at art and craft events around the city. I also met her seven years ago in Balboa Park.
Elie has helped sick kids at Rady Children’s Hospital paint happy, hopeful stones. Above all, she’s an advocate for Suicide Prevention and Awareness. Her own family experience, and a day of painting stones on the beach for a loving memorial, propelled her down this road. The selling of her stones raises funds to bring awareness to the issue of suicide prevention.
Today, seeing the stones arranged on that table and her smile lighted my day. Chased away dark thoughts. Reminded me of important things.
The distinctive street art of Gerardo Meza (@mezarte) has been showing up in both Hillcrest and Bankers Hill!
I’ve noticed several electrical boxes painted in the last year in the two neighborhoods by the prolific artist. His colorful street art can be observed in communities all around San Diego.
Should you walk through San Ysidro just north of the Mexican border, you’ll find many examples of his work. Gerardo Meza is Chairman of the Border Public Arts Committee. Among other accomplishments, he’s also Coordinator of Art Box San Diego and Cofounder of the San Diego Art Society.
Gerardo’s artwork with its Mexican flavor is unmistakable. It can be weird, distorted, humorous, frightening, sexy, hip, mythological, ironic… It’s very original and definitely attracts your attention!
My first four photographs are of two boxes in Hillcrest…
And here come photos of two boxes in Bankers Hill…
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
I spied this very colorful mural in Bankers Hill on the north side of West Hair Salon on Fifth Avenue. It appears to uniquely combine elements of Día de los Muertos calavera face painting and Pride rainbow imagery!
The artist signature is that of Genaro Garcia (@artegennaro).
I took this photograph over a parked car the other day, but you can see most of the artwork.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
Walk into The Old Globe theatre complex in Balboa Park and you’ll observe the sculpture of a golden crown. You’ll also pass rows of festive banners and signs. Their colorful graphics tell the story of The Old Globe’s special Henry 6 Project.
The Henry 6 Project has engaged the people of San Diego with groundbreaking community outreach. Not only can the public enjoy a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s several Henry VI plays, but as one of the graphics explains: The Globe’s radically inclusive vision opened every step of the creative process to the citizens of San Diego, weaving them into the fabric of the production not only with performance opportunities, but also through innovative, direct collaborations on nearly all elements of the production design.
Last week I photographed some of these signs and banners. Read the photo captions to learn a little more about the Henry 6 Project. Better yet, head over to beautiful Balboa Park and see all of this for yourself!
The world premiere of Henry 6 at The Old Globe is a two-part adaptation of Henry VI, titled One: Flowers and France and Two: Riot and Reckoning.
To read about this unique production on The Old Globe’s website, click here!
Director Barry Edelstein’s adaptation, Henry 6, is made by, with, and for the community of San Diego.The Old Globe’s Reflecting Shakespeare program works with individuals who are incarcerated, formerly incarcerated, or justice-involved, and provides a vehicle for healthy interaction, reflection, creativity, and personal growth…Community workshops explore scenic design. Other workshops and activities concern sound, lighting and costume design and music. Nearly 200 individuals were filmed for crowd scenes projected in the production of Henry 6.38 plays over 89 years. With this summer’s production of Henry 6, The Old Globe completes the Shakespeare canon…and (has) joined a small and select list of American companies to have achieved this feat…The Globe For All Shakespeare tour was designed for on-the-road performances to be enjoyed by audiences throughout San Diego County and in Tijuana. Performed free of charge in non-theatrical venues…these productions give audiences an intimate and compelling professional theatrical experience.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
I post new blogs pretty often. If you like discovering new things, bookmark coolsandiegosights.com and swing on by occasionally!
I live in downtown San Diego and love to walk around with my camera! You can follow Cool San Diego Sights via Facebook or X.
I was walking today outside Comic-Con 2024 when I noticed an artist hanging out with some of his artwork near the San Diego Convention Center. His name is Phil, he’s a local, and his great digital art is in the anime style.
Umbridled Ambition is the name he uses to showcase and sell his art, as you can see from his Instagram page here.
Phil was sketching out another piece on his tablet as Comic-Con goers streamed past. When I paused by his table to look at his digital art, he graciously allowed me to take these photos!
Check it out!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Even those who’ve never played the video game Genshin Impact will probably enjoy a great, free exhibit now showing during San Diego Comic-Con 2024. You can find it in the gallery across L Street from the Omni Hotel.
Teyvat Fashion Show Genshin Impact Fan Art Convention is the full name of the exhibition, and should you walk through the door you’ll be wowed at the really great anime-style artwork. There’s art from the video game and lots and lots of fan art. The submitted fan art is so good it appears to have been created professionally! While there’s an emphasis on fashion, the art depicts many aspects of the game.
In addition to all the art, there’s Genshin Impact merch, many photo ops, and a cool video backdrop with a treadmill that allows you to take a video of yourself walking slowly through the fantasy world of Teyvat! How cool is that?
The exhibit opens at 9:30 am each day through Sunday. I was told that some of the first fans through the door get free swag!
These photos are a tiny sample of what you’ll encounter…
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
A comic art Mini Con will be coming to San Diego on August 24th, 2024. The free event will be held at Southern California Comics at 8280 Clairemont Mesa Blvd., #124, from 11 am to 5 pm.
Featured artists will be Jevin Loop, Kevin Tran, Phillip Quick, Action Figure God and Zander6comix. This morning at San Diego Comic-Con, Zander himself told me about this cool local comic event. We’ve met on a couple of occasions in the past while I’ve blogged about events around San Diego.
Come support great comic talent and have a fun time. Burgers and Fries will be on hand, too!
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
An iconic prop: the famous phaser used by William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk in the original Star Trek television show.
A very special exhibit is on display during San Diego Comic-Con week. You’ll find it at the Comic-Con Museum in Balboa Park. Famous one-of-a-kind movie and television props, original artwork and collectibles can be viewed before they are auctioned off this coming Sunday, July 28, 2024!
Comic-Con Museum Presents: TCM | Julien’s Auctions 2024 Spotlight Series: Harry Potter and Other Heroes will excite fans of the Harry Potter movies, Batman movies, and X-Men movies. In addition, two historic, one-of-a-kind objects in the museum gallery will delight those who love the original Star Trek television series!
Visitors to the museum will see a whole roomful of props and artwork, all of which could belong to you at the end of this week! (The auction of the Star Trek props, including William Shatner’s phaser and communicator, will be held separately later this year.)
To learn more, check out the Comic-Con Museum’s website by clicking here! It explains: Highlights of the auction include an array of iconic costumes, production material, and beyond from various productions of the Harry Potter film franchise; Marvel’s greatest superheroes and their most high-octane pieces will hit the auction block featuring original storyboard illustrations by storyboard artist Gabriel Hardman from the X-Men blockbuster X2; and from DC Comics’ Batman Begins, items wielded by Christian Bale, such as a stunt grapple gun prop and batarang prop. Plus, Other Surprises Crash the Party!
I took a few photos of the exhibit for you to enjoy. Head up to Balboa Park and see everything for yourself before the online auction in the museum’s auditorium on Sunday!
The Comic-Con Museum in San Diego’s beautiful Balboa Park.An original Hogwarts invitation envelope from the production of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.An original knight’s head prop from the production of the chess game scene in the film Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.Marker ink on card drawing on Batman by artist Bob Kane, the character’s co-creator. The Superman drawing is signed by co-creator Joe Shuster.An original grapple gun prop used by Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne/Batman in the Christopher Nolan film Batman Begins.Original production storyboard from X2: X-Men United, by artist Gabriel Hardman.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
What the heck is that green thing? It’s part of another fun, surprising offsite being created outside the San Diego Convention Center before Comic-Con 2024!
What I love about walking around before Comic-Con is the mushrooming creativity. Sure, the offsite activations, building and trolley wraps, and carnival rides are all about marketing movies, television shows, video games and whatnot–but it is creativity that brings delight to the buying public. Art and storytelling are an essential part of it all.
So it’s now Sunday afternoon before Comic-Con 2024. Several days to go before the pop culture convention officially opens. I’ve already posted lots of photos the past few days. But more stuff keeps materializing!
Local artist Shirish Villaseñor has begun painting the windows of the Starbucks at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront. It’s a SpongeBob SquarePants theme celebrating the cartoon’s 25th anniversary! (She has some big community mural projects coming up in San Diego which I hope to cover in the next couple months.)The smile of a friendly artist!The FX offsite and building wrap are getting ready. Like most Comic-Con offsites, it opens on Thursday.Hulu’s Animayhem has returned in 2024. They’ll have a huge offsite behind the convention center.I’m pretty sure you can’t slide inside this huge green pipe.Some sort of fun factory.A big swing ride at the A.V.A. FEST. Woo-hoo!That cool Star Trek wrap is now 100% complete on the Marriott Marquis.Crates have arrived for the Dragon Ball offsite. It’s going to be awesome as usual!A big Dragon Ball wrap is being placed on part of the Marriott Marquis.The second side of a trolley wrap design that I hadn’t been able to photograph earlier. The Boys.The big, fun Marvel Contest of Champions Ferris wheel under construction along MLK Promenade.More spooky Immortal Universe graphics placed on the Hilton Gaslamp.A wider look.My goodness! Wrapping the large Hard Rock Hotel all around with SpongeBob graphics takes many days of work.The Lodge by Paramount+ is starting to look like a lodge.The transforming power of human creativity.
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Thanks for visiting Cool San Diego Sights!
If you’d like to view my coverage of Comic-Con so far, which includes hundreds of cool photographs, click here!
Cool San Diego Sights! 